BILLIE PENNINGS

07/15/1921 - 09/11/2022

Dr. Billie A. Pennings, aged 101, departed from this world on Sunday, September 11, 2022, in Houston, Texas. Born in Hilo, Hawaii on

July 15, 1921, Billie grew up in Australia and Portland, Oregon. After attending the University of New Mexico, Billie held numerous jobs in the San Francisco area at the beginning of World War II, including at Kodak processing V-Mail, in a lab at Kraft Foods, and as the first woman hired by the National Weather Service to launch weather balloons.

Driven by the desire to get back to her beloved Australia and to “do her bit” for the war, Billie attended Radio School and obtained her Radio Operator’s License. Unable to join the US Merchant Marine, (women were not allowed), Billie joined the Norwegian Merchant Marine and served in Allied convoys, including sailing in the South Pacific to Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, for which she was recently awarded The Congressional Gold Medal. After the War, she joined the US Merchant Marine and continued to serve on US Merchant ships well into the 1950’s, when she decided to take another bold career step and attend Veterinary School at Auburn University, where she graduated in 1958, the only woman in her class.

She proceeded to open one of the first Cats-Only practices in the United States in 1959 and founded the Cat Veterinary Clinic in Houston in 1973, which is still in operation to this day. After 40 years of practicing Veterinary Medicine, Billie retired to Galveston and served on the Boards of the Seafarer’s Center of Galveston and the Galveston-Texas City Pilots.

Billie is preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Harry N. Pennings, who passed away in 1999. She is survived by sons Parker Pennings, Leif Clark, and Ed Pennings, and daughter Barron Pennings Lozano, as well as 10 Grandchildren and 5 Great-Grandchildren. She touched many lives and broke many barriers. She will be missed. Donations can be made in Billie’s name to the Seafarer’s Center of Galveston.

Funeral Services will be held Monday, October 24 at 10:00 am at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, 6221 Main Street, Houston, Texas.